By John Corrado
One of the summer’s best blockbusters, F1: The Movie is now available on physical media, including 4K Ultra HD. Brad Pitt stars in the film as Sonny Hayes, an aging race car driver brought on to mentor young hotshot Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris).
I had a great time with this one when I saw it in theatres (you can read my review right here). The film is directed by Joseph Kosinski, who previously made Top Gun: Maverick, and F1 does for race cars what that film did for fighter jets.
It’s a rip-roaring good time, bolstered by thrilling racing scenes and the duelling movie star charisma of Pitt and Idris. The film will be streaming on Apple TV+ in December, but 4K is the way to go for physical media collectors. The 2160p presentation really highlights Claudio Miranda’s cinematography, from the magic hour shots to the steely grey of the racetracks, allowing for high attention to detail in the crowd and racing scenes.
Film Rating: ★★★½ (out of 4)
Bonus Features (4K Ultra HD):
The 4K disc includes nearly an hour of “behind the scenes” material across nine featurettes. A code for a digital copy is also included in the package, which ships with a matte slipcover.
• Inside F1: The Movie Table Read (5 minutes, 10 seconds): A look at the table read for the film, done at Silverstone.
• The Anatomy of a Car Crash (6 minutes, 28 seconds): Looks at the logistics of staging a massive crash sequence using practical effects with a car being propelled through the air.
• Getting Up to Speed (5 minutes, 2 seconds): Looks at the training that Pitt and Idris underwent to do their own driving, and the custom electric F1 car they built to use in the film.
• APXGP Innovations (5 minutes, 26 seconds): Looks at some of the techniques used in filming the racing scenes.
• Making it to Silverstone (5 minutes, 8 seconds): Focuses on the logistics of actually filming at Silverstone, including in front of an audience of actual F1 fans.
• Lewis Hamilton: Producer (5 minutes, 18 seconds): Explores the insight that real life driver Lewis Hamilton brought to the film, with him talking about the authenticity of the movie.
• APXGP Sets and Locations Around the World (9 minutes, 26 seconds): A deeper look at the logistics of shooting at real race track, including in front of thousands of fans on race weekends, and inside the top secret simulator at Mercedes.
• APXGP and F1: How it was Filmed (5 minutes, 45 seconds): Explores how the cast and crew embedded themselves on real racetracks as the “eleventh team” to film during actual races.
• Sound of Speed (5 minutes, 1 second): Focuses on Hans Zimmer’s score, and how it mixes with the sound effects of the cars and engines.
The Joy of Movies 